Abstract
INTRODUCTION: This study investigates the use of do-it-yourself artificial pancreas systems (DIYAPS) in the UK, and whether self-reported outcomes associated with them are affected by the demographics of the user. METHODS: An online survey was conducted to assess user demographic data and self-reported time-in-range (TIR) outcomes. Statistical analysis was undertaken to review the results and check whether there were major differences in change in TIR across age, gender and duration of diabetes. RESULTS: Of 253 valid responses to the survey across a wide age range of users, 74.4% related to adult users and 25.6% related to under-16s. The majority (65.6%) used AndroidAPS, but there was greater use of Loop (43.1%) amongst under-16s than amongst adults (25.9%). Correspondingly, more under-16s (40.0%) than adults (24.3%) used Omnipod Eros. A 17.3% (± 13.7%) increase in time in range was reported across all participants, with no significant differences observed between age groups, genders or diabetes duration groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results show that these systems are being used by both genders, and that users cover a wide range of ages and diabetes durations. They also show that improvements in self-reported DIYAPS healthcare outcomes may not be specific to any particular age, gender or duration of diabetes, and the results may provide additional insights into the applicability of the algorithms by demographic. This study may also inform healthcare professionals about the use and effectiveness of DIYAPS solutions.